Some have said, “An Unrefined Vegan? Yeah, girlfriend can’t do gluten-free!” Well, I’m here to tell you not only that I can, but that I AM doing GF over at Richa’s blog today. That’s right – old Ms. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is hangin’ at Vegan Richa today with a rice flour-xanthan-gum kinda recipe for chocolatey and blueberrily whoopie pies.
Be sure and spend some time exploring her site when you visit. You WILL leave hungry. Thank you, Richa, for inviting me to share!
Welcome to the Potluck! By now your waistband is probably stretched a bit, the table is thick with empty plates and glasses and you’ve probably gone through a napkin or two. There are still lots of yummy, sweet, decadent treats coming your way and - I want you to get right to the next dessert! Mine!
I couldn’t resist this year; I had to make a dessert. Sure, I had fun at the last Potluck with my Sage & Rosemary Dinner Rolls with Roasted Garlic Coconut Butter, but the dessert bloggers were getting all of the attention! While a bit detailed and requiring some advance work, this rich and creamy trifle recipe is well-worth the effort – especially for a holiday meal or for when you want to impress your guests. By the way, you’re really getting two desserts for the price of one. Both the cake and the creme are stand-outs on their own.
Maple Creme & Mocha Spice Cake Trifle with Fresh Blueberries
Serves 8
Mocha Spice Cake:
2 cups freshly-brewed hot coffee
1/2 cup maple sugar, divided
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1/4 cup vegan butter
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. flaxseed meal + 6 tbsp. water (whisk together and set aside until thickened)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. powdered stevia
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 cup sweetened cacao nibs
Maple Creme:
16 oz. silken tofu
1/4 cup freshly-brewed coffee
1/2 cup almond milk, divided
2 tsp. maple extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
juice of 1/2 a lemon
3 tbsp. tahini
pinch cardamom
pinch kosher salt
4 tbsp. arrowroot powder
1/2 -1 cup fresh blueberries
Make the mocha spice cake:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9″x 13″ pan with parchment and lightly spray with cooking oil.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1/4 cup of the maple sugar. Add vanilla extract and flaxseed mixture. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine the coffee, the remaining 1/4 cup of the maple sugar and the cocoa. Whisk together and warm – just enough for the cocoa and maple syrup to dissolve. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, stevia, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and allspice. When the coffee mixture is cool, alternately add it and the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Stir until smooth. Stir in the cacao nibs.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is firm and springy and a tester comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before cutting into small chunks.
Make the creme:
Mix the arrowroot powder with 1/4 cup of the nut milk. Set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the maple syrup and coffee and gently warm.
In a blender or food processor, combine the tofu, the remaining 1/4 cup nut milk, the maple and vanilla extracts, lemon juice, tahini, cardamom and salt and process until very smooth.
Let the maple syrup/coffee mixture come to a boil, reduce the heat and stir in the arrowroot powder. Stir with a whisk until the mixture thickens – this happens quite suddenly. Immediately pour the arrowroot mixture into the blender with the tofu mixture and process until thoroughly combined. Pour into an air-tight container and refrigerate until firm.
Assemble the trifle:
In a large glass trifle bowl or in individual bowls, pour some of the maple creme. Lay down a layer of mocha spice cakes chunks and sprinkle in some blueberries. Repeat layers until all of the ingredients have been used – making sure you end with maple creme and blueberries. Cover and store in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
Thank you so very much for visiting An Unrefined Vegan and for coming to the Potluck! If you like what you see here, consider following my blog or visiting me on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
And now – - continue your plant-based journey and discover more delicious desserts!
To visit Too Cheap for Pine Nuts (sharing arroz sin leche), the next blog in the Potluck, click on the Go Forward button below, or click here:
To return to Anne Sture Tucker’s blog and her delicious carrot cake, click on the Go Back button below or click here:
You can always start at the beginning of the Potluck by visiting Vegan Bloggers Unite! or the home base of the Potluck, the Virtual Vegan Potluck website.
Life is uncertain. Eat DESSERT first. – Chef AJ
Tip: Excess/leftover blueberry filling and date streusel make an excellent whole-grain cereal topper.
Berried Treasures with Macadamia Nut Creme and Portabella Stroganoff from Unprocessed: How to Achieve Vibrant Health and Your Ideal Weight, by Chef AJ. September 25 is the last day to enter the giveaway - for details on how to add your name, see below.
Tip: Serve over steamed brown rice and top with fresh baby arugula.
To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below or on any other Unprocessed blog post describing what you find most addicting: sugar, salt or oil. Or, share your story of how you have cleaned up your diet and changed your life. For additional entries you can also Like my Facebook pages, An Unrefined Vegan and/or Virtual Vegan Potluck. The giveaway ends September 25. Thank you!
The Deets
Title: Unprocessed: How to Achieve Vibrant Health and Your Ideal Weight
Author: Chef AJ (aka Abbie Jaye) with Glen Merzer
Publication Date: 2011
Page Length: 178 pages including 100+ recipes
List Price: $19.95
Publisher: Hale to the Kale Publishing
Websites: www.EatUnprocessed.com; www.chefajshealthykitchen.com
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Green tomatoes.
It’s really full-on summer here – though the calendar disagrees with me – in Oklahoma and besides having tomatoes, peppers and basil in the greenhouse, Kel has things humming along in the outside garden as well. As I mentioned in an earlier post, he’s really been a one man show this year as far as the gardening goes. I putter out to help here and there – and to help myself with whatever is ripe – but he’s done 99% of the work, and he’s done beautifully.
The garden space has slowly expanded since we moved here in 2007. It took us a full year to realize that we cannot plant produce straight in the ground. The soil just isn’t that good, but more than that, the Bermuda grass ate our lunch, so to speak. It creeps, crawls and invades anything that it can. So, we covered the garden plot with black plastic and let it cook for nearly a full year. And we raised the beds to boot. This year we’ve added a couple of new spots that will be ready next year, after the black plastic, the sun and the worms do their work. Here’s how things look:
The full garden with areas under black plastic.
Beautiful basil. Our honeybees will go crazy when these are in full bloom.
A strawberry plant, new this year.
So many grapes this year!
Bell peppers from the greenhouse.
Potato plants; imagine all of those happy, little spuds underground!
Close-up of a straw bale. My artist’s eye loved the tangles of dry grass.
Young blueberry plant, covered in unripe berries.
Sturdy row of onions.
One of my contributions: lavender.
Red Hot Poker, for the hummingbirds.
“A flute with no holes is not a flute. A doughnut with no holes is a danish.”
- Ty Webb, Caddyshack
I’d have to delve deep into my awkward pre-teens to explain my connection with the movie Caddyshack. At one time in my life I could quote it from beginning to end – a testament less to stellar intellectual or memorization skills and more to the vast number of hours I spent saturating myself with the movie. Hours I will never be able to retrieve. However, it must be said: there are some damn funny moments in that movie. What does all this have to do with pastries? Save for the nonsensical (my favorite type of humor) quote above, absolutely nothing.
Now. This delicious gem of a recipe came – totally free! – in the March 2012 King Arthur Flour catalog. Yes, there is some labor involved. But that shouldn’t stop anyone from giving it a try, and some of the steps can be done ahead of time. It is so, so very tasty and absolutely beautiful. It would be a real stunner at a brunch for guests or on a special Sunday (Mother’s Day, I’m looking at you!). Or to paraphrase Bill Murray’s character in Caddyshack – Carl Spackler – you don’t even need a reason to make this. The original recipe calls for a cream cheese and lemon curd filling. Obviously I messed with the “cream” part of cream and though lemon curd is awesome, I really thought blueberries would be perfect in this. So – change up the filling to what you like. Raspberries would taste really yummy in this. Maybe next time. As ever, I veganized and used unrefined sugars instead of the white stuff.
Blueberry Cream Braid
Makes 2 generous loaves
For the bread:
Sponge:
3/4 cup warm water
2 tsp. agave nectar
1 tbsp. instant yeast
1/2 cup AP flour
Dough:
all of the sponge (above)
3/4 cup plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
1/2 cup vegan “butter”
2 tbsp. egg replacer + 6 tbsp. water (whisk together until frothy, then set aside)
1/2 cup maple sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
3+ cups AP flour
Tofu “cream” (see below)
Blueberry sauce (see below)
1 tbsp. vegan “butter,” melted (for brushing braids)
Demerara sugar, for dusting braids
Make the sponge and dough:
In a large bowl, combine the sponge ingredients, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 15 minutes.
When the sponge is ready, add the dough ingredients and knead until smooth and elastic. You may need to add more AP flour to prevent dough from sticking to your hands. Place the dough in a large bowl that’s been sprayed with cooking oil, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size.
Make the tofu “cream”:
6 oz. silken tofu
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4-1/2 tsp. liquid stevia or maple syrup, to taste
1/2 tsp. vanilla
lemon zest
In the bowl of a food processor, combine all of the tofu “cream” ingredients and process until very smooth. Set aside until ready to assemble the braid. Make a few days ahead and store in the refrigerator to speed up the braid process.
Make the blueberry sauce:
1/2 lb. fresh blueberries
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tbsp. orange juice or water
You might recognize this sauce from the Orange Poppyseed Waffle recipe a while back. I knew it would be perfect in this recipe! In a small saucepan combine the blueberries through the maple syrup. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in the 1/2 tbsp. orange juice or water and add to the blueberry mixture. Stir until mixture thickens. Set aside until ready to assemble the braid. You can make this several days ahead – just store in the refrigerator.
Below are photos that break down the way to create this “braid.” It looks complicated, but really isn’t. You and your family will be so impressed with the results, that the time and effort will have been totally worth it!
Assemble and bake:
One: Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat oven to 375F. Divide the risen dough in two pieces. Working with one piece at a time (cover the remaining piece), flatten and roll it into a 10″ x 15″ rectangle. Lightly “draw” lines on the dough dividing it into thirds. You aren’t cutting the dough at this point, just marking it so you know where to put the filling and where to later cut the braid strips.
Tip: Roll the dough directly on parchment paper rather than on the counter. This will make moving the dough much easier than trying to pry up the braided product – as I had to do – with Kel’s help and 3 spatulas. Hence the funny curve in one of the braids. So: roll the dough into a rectangle, then gently transfer it to a baking sheet. Complete the assembly right on the baking sheet.
Two: Spread some of the tofu “cream” down the center of the dough. I eyeballed the amount. You’ll probably have “cream” left over – don’t worry, you’ll find some delicious use for it.
Three: Spread some of the blueberry filling over the “cream.” Again, I eyeballed it. Save the leftovers for your pancakes and waffles.
Four: Make cuts along the edges of the dough to within 1/2″ of the filling, every 3/4″ to 1″ all the way down the length of the dough. Cut out the little piece of dough from each corner so that you can fold the top and bottom ends of the dough over the filling.
Five: Starting at one end, pull the cut strips up and over the filling, alternating sides.
Six: Cover the braid and repeat the whole process with the other portion of dough. Allow the braids to rise for 45-90 minutes – or until nice and puffy. Don’t forget to preheat the oven to 375F towards the end of the rise.
Brush the braids with a little bit of melted “butter,” and sprinkle with Demerara sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. The tops should be a beautiful brown.
I had a strict ritual while living in Washington, DC. At 2 pm every day, I used my lunch break to work out in the gym in my office building. After a good run on the treadmill and some strength training, I’d head into the small convenience store on the first floor of the building and treat myself to either a bag of M & Ms or a Twix or a Kit Kat. I figured I had earned it because of the calories I’d torched at the gym.
Then I swore off of refined sugar. And other funky ingredients. It took a while to retrain my brain, but I did it by packing a healthy post-workout snack. Eventually the sight of rows and rows of colorfully-wrapped candy bars completely lost their allure. I was immune to the check-out lane assault on my sweet senses.
It seemed that chocolate bars were a thing of my past until I ran across a recipe for making my own – not in the complicated confectioner’s kind of making chocolate candies (tempering? no thanks!), but in the simple melt-some-good-chocolate and stir-in-delicious-fruits-and-nuts way. I justified my return to chocolate bars by using grain-sweetened, vegan chocolate. I don’t eat this every day (besides, my workouts are at 6 am now – too early even for me to indulge in chocolate), but when I do partake, I don’t feel guilty at all.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can stir in whatever you love: puffed rice cereal, chopped peanuts, pecans or walnuts or hazelnuts, pretzels, raisins…I make two varieties at once – so the total amount of chocolate (12 oz.) goes into the double boiler together and then I divide the melted chocolate.
Chocolate Bark with Dried Blueberries, Crystallized Ginger & Sunflower Seeds
6 oz. good quality bittersweet vegan chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp. crystallized ginger, chopped
1/3 cup dried blueberries
Chocolate Bark with Dried Cherries, Orange Zest & Pistachios
6 oz. good quality bittersweet vegan chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup pistachios, chopped
2 tbsp. orange zest (I used a microplaner)
1/3 cup dried tart cherries
Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dried blueberries, sunflower seeds and the crystallized ginger. Set aside.
Carefully melt chocolate in a double boiler. Pour half of the mixture into the bowl with the dried blueberries, et al, and stir until combined. Spread mixture out onto one of the foil-lined baking sheets. Now add the pistachios, orange zest and tart cherries into the saucepan of the double boiler (with the remaining half of the melted chocolate). Stir to combine, then spread mixture onto the second foil-lined baking sheet.
Don’t worry about getting the chocolate perfectly flat – as it cools, it gets a little tricky with which to work – but the lumpy look is kinda appealing.
Tip: You could also drop the chocolate mixture by the tablespoonful right onto the parchment instead of spreading it out; or drop into mini muffin cups.
Place pans in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove, break chocolate into chunks and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Go work out for an hours and then treat yourself to a nice, big hunk!
(Instead of buying chocolate, make your own raw, vegan version! Find out how at The Veggie Nook using Gabby’s totally cool recipes: click right here!)
After a few days away from home, it’s a little hard to rev up the engines, but it’s good to get back into the kitchen and back into the world of vegan blogging and vegan bloggers. Despite a long list, I only managed to get to one vegan restaurant while in San Francisco – Millennium (outstanding) – but overall, it was fairly painless to find places where both my carnivore friend and I could dine in peace together. A few standouts, besides Millennium, were Panama Red Coffee which consistently served up a smooth soy mocha (and they also offer almond milk) and Strizzi’s, which despite the vegan-hostile menu, cheerfully created a pasta for me with whole wheat penne and their raw “sauce” of capers and fresh tomatoes.
The Bar at Millennium
As usual, the most problematic meal was breakfast, so as usual, I “imported” what I needed. So it seemed appropriate to jump start my blog with a breakfast recipe – and one of my favorite things to eat any time of day: waffles.
Recently I found myself with the wonderful predicament of having too many blueberries. I thought about pie; I thought about cobbler. And then I ran across a recipe for waffles smothered with a warm blueberry sauce. It spoke to me, and I listened. While the orange poppyseed waffles were baking, this sweet, gorgeous, easy sauce was simmering on the stove. Waffle and blueberry met at the breakfast table and all was right with the morning.
Orange Poppyseed Waffles with Blueberry Sauce
Makes 3 8″ round waffles
Blueberry Sauce:
1/2 lb. fresh blueberries
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tbsp. orange juice or water
Waffles:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tbsp. poppyseeds
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. egg replacer + 9 tbsp. water (whisk together until frothy, then set aside for a minute)
1/2 tsp. stevia liquid (or 6 tbsp. maple sugar)
1 cup soy “buttermilk”
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 tsp. orange extract
1 tbsp. orange zest
In a small saucepan combine the blueberries through the maple syrup. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in the 1/2 tbsp. orange juice or water and add to the blueberry mixture. Stir until mixture thickens. Keep warm until ready to serve the waffles.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, poppyseeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, combine the egg replacer mixture, stevia liquid, “buttermilk,” applesauce, orange extract and orange zest. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid ingredients, stirring until just combined. Set aside for 15 minutes.
While the waffle mixture rests, heat up a waffle iron and turn the oven to 200F and get your plates in there to warm.
Lightly spray the waffle iron with cooking oil and ladle batter into the center of the iron, spreading until it reaches nearly to the edges. Close the waffle iron and cook for about 4 minutes. Gently remove the waffle and set directly on an oven rack to keep warm and crispy while you finish making waffles.
Serve with plenty of blueberry sauce.
(This is a version of the Epicurious recipe for lemon poppyseed waffles. I’ve veganized it and unrefined it.)
